


Power within

by Klovell



Series: Hero universe [1]
Category: None - Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Fantasy, First work - Freeform, Gen, Gods, Good vs Evil, Heroes, No adults, Superpowers, Villains, abilities, japan vs USA, original - Freeform, romance is not the main subject, society
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:48:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23029603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Klovell/pseuds/Klovell
Summary: Power Emergence is about the growing and developing of newfound abilities and how they’ll be used. There’s always going to be those who use their abilities to destroy and to wreak havoc on the world. But where there’s anarchy and terror. There’s a story of courage and self sacrifice. This story follows Alex and his friends in a world very different from their own, discovering everything there is to learn about the new world, And then working to protect it.
Relationships: Alex/Ash Ethan/Charlotte
Series: Hero universe [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1655104
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work, I aim to update it every week but I’m not the fastest writer. Constructive criticism is welcome and appreciated

Prologue  
The wall across from me was a dark shade of blue, a color I had chosen on my sixth birthday and partially painted myself. But it was lighter than what was normal for this hour of night. Sure there were some lights shining through from the city below but never this brightly. I moved my eyes a few inches down the wall and looked through the window, expecting to see some sort of spotlight show illuminating my room but it was only a faint orange glow outside illuminating my room.  
I felt my breathing, the cars honking down below rang in my ears along with a gentle thrumming, but there was a smell I hadn’t smelled before. It wasn’t rancid or gross in any way, it was almost a sweet smell. But it also smelled warm in a way. It had only been an hour or two since I fell asleep but the smell of whatever this was woken me up. And I didn’t know why. But before I could settle back into bed and close my eyes, a scream pierced the night. It was louder than all the cars honking, louder than the now apparent helicopters and planes now screaming above. As soon as the scream pierced the night more broke through the air.  
This made me shoot up from my spot on my twin bed and race to the window. Stubbing my toe on my dresser.  
“Shit” I whispered to myself as my foot started to throb slightly, but my curiosity outweighed my desire to sit down and rest my foot for a moment. As I glanced out the window, I didn't know what I felt. But I know what I saw. The world itself collapsing, being decimated, and falling apart.  
As I looked out the window I threw on my black athletic sweats and a dry fit blue t-shirt. Knowing this would very likely end in me leaving chicago. My shoes were in the corner so I threw them on too after I put on my socks. I glanced out the window again, seeing the worsening situation.  
Cracks formed in the ground just as fast if not faster than my heart beat. I could feel my chest just as hard as the ground beneath me shook. The smell that I had smelled earlier, quickly changed, from the sweet smell it was now a sweet smell mixed with burning and charred flesh. The fire raged on the sides and in the streets in front of buildings, but the ground scared me the most.  
Smoke flew up into the air, lightning crackling inside of it and forcing itself to crack into buildings underneath. The flashes were bright but the billowing flames were brighter, stretching above the horizon as far as I could see. The lightning was focused in one area though, which gave me a bit of hope that I wouldn’t have to worry about it. The I looked at the ground and knew I wasn’t in the clear yet. The cracks were spreading  
Even though I couldn’t see everything, I could see the buildings fall like dominos. But the thing that truly scared me was the dominos fell in my direction, towards our apartment building. I took a moment, my body quaking with fear.  
I opened the window to climb on the fire escape but a scream from my own apartment quickly forced me to climb back inside. The orange glow came from under the door. I ran to it, my shoes gliding across the carpet.  
“MOM, DAD, WHERE ARE YOU” I screamed. I grabbed the doorknob and it sizzled against my skin.  
“NOO” I screamed, pounding on the door.  
“RUN ALEX, DON’T COME BA-” BANG. my mother's voice was interrupted by a bang, and the entire building began to tilt. I sprinted towards the window, the building didn’t tilt fast but it tilted nevertheless. I almost launched over the window into the fire escape, neglecting to process what just happened, all I knew was I needed to escape. The door behind me flew open as I fell over the edge but it was already too late for whoever it was to catch me.  
A gunshot went off, and I could feel the bullet fly by my shoulder as I started to fall. That was when I realized that there was no ground under me. It would have helped to look where I lurched when I went out the window. The fire escape below me had half separated from the building and tilted away from it.  
The lower parts of it glowing red hot from a strange clear substance emitting fire an inch from its surface. I fell, yelling and thrashing in the air before finally landing on my back on the rough metal. It dug into my back through my shirt, slicing at the skin protecting me. I could feel my back tear open in thin lines diagonal across my back. I could feel the blood drip down through the slits in the metal, and the broken rib in my chest.  
I groaned, not having the breath for a yell. I slowly rolled over, my back recoiling at the movement. It throbbed in pain, the skin separating into what felt like thick slashes across my back. As the skin that had been peeled apart by thin, rough, and rusty metal separated I had to lean forward to catch my balance. I felt dizzy, my head spun and my vision blurry. I forced myself to stay awake, desperately trying to keep a hold of the one thing I knew would work in this. Using my head. I had an uncanny ability to keep calm, but this was more than I'd ever experienced before. But I did what I always do, I shut it all out and moved on.  
The fire escaped lurched as it became disconnected from the building and fell in the opposite direction, towards a shorter building, within distance. I clambered up to the next level as fast as I could, knowing I had one shot.  
As the fire escape lurched, I jumped, I felt like I was floating through the air, blood trailing behind me. I landed feet first on the roof and then collapsed at the speed I had landed, I rolled, scraping up my forearms and hands. But apart from that the only thing wrong was this new pain in my side. I looked down, and a hole about a quarter inch or half an inch pierced into my skin was there. Blood flowed out of it quickly, and stained the ground. I looked up, knowing a gun had shot me, the sound being covered up by the helicopter floating above me.  
The door was open and somebody knelt there, gun in hand. But not for long as another louder noise pierced the air. It was a whooshing noise coming from behind me. A flame flew through the air and struck the helicopter. The helicopter exploded into shards, a sheet of metal came crashing towards me and narrowly missed my face. But I didn’t have the energy to stand. I moved my head slightly, lifting it to see the second helicopter, but I couldn’t hear it, everything was ringing. The stench of burning flesh was even stronger and my muscles felt like they were tearing themselves apart. But somehow I knew that I had to stand, to show them I was worth landing for. I lifted my arm, it was heavy and the strength in it was minimal but I had to try.  
I put it on the ground. Using it to push myself up. My arm struggled, and a pop in the distance sounded as soon as I had gotten my knee under me. I struggled to get my other knee on the ground but I had to, otherwise I could quite possibly die here. I saw the helicopter, hovering just a few feet away from the side of the building. I felt adrenaline rush through me as I pushed even harder. I lifted my knee, almost losing my balance.  
My side Felt like it was shot again as I finally pushed my knee under me. I waved at the helicopter but there was no response. The noise was deafening but the worst thing about right now wasn’t the fact that i’d been shot, wasn’t the fact that I was in unbearable pain, wasn’t the smell in the air. It was the fact that I was helpless. And I couldn’t just lie down and die. The sound of the whirring blades reminded me of everything I was fighting for. Everything I had lost until now didn’t matter if I couldn’t make it. And I would not let my family's deaths be in vain.  
I bit my tongue and pushed my foot under me, then using my hands on the ground to move to my feet. I got up, standing straight up, while the gunshot wound and my back roared at me. I gained my balance, staring right into the eyes of the pilot, a storm of rage and adrenaline behind my eyes. Then he turned to his other pilot, his head nodding. Then it tilted, flying over me to the center of the roof.  
The gravel on the roof flew every which way and I took a hesitant step towards it. The long door swinging open. The helicopter was long, with windows every foot or so. A cargo door was at the back and the two rotors continued to spin above it. I took another step, someone looking at me through one of the windows, their eyes filled with worry. The long door on the side continued to slide until it hit the end of its rail. An audible clang as the door slid back slightly.  
The person opening the door was a skinny kid, his jet black hair and a girl behind him. He held the door open and the girl reached for me. Never stepping out of the helicopter. But she was pushed out of the way as another girl jumped out onto the gravel, not concerned for her own safety.  
I waved at her to go back but she was already halfway to me. Her feet slamming into the roof under her. Her blonde hair was tied back in a messy bun, and her skin was tan but still white. She wore a pair of sweats and a tight t-shirt, hugging what looked like a well defined set of muscles. But she wasn’t large in any sense. She was maybe half a foot shorter than me but it didn’t stop her from throwing my arm over her shoulder. I put as much weight as I would let myself on her and kept moving my feet, now going faster as the roof we were on shook and quaked. The helicopter rose, its landing gear only inches away from the roof. Something had spooked them. I looked back for a moment and the roof behind us at the edge cracked and popped, pieces of it falling into the streets and alleys below. The roof itself started to crack towards us, but weaving towards the edge of the roof. The portion that had cracked slid and fell into the street, the sound bombed but I didn’t have time to stare. I kept up the pace, finall reaching the helicopter. She pushed me up on the landing rails, practically shoving me before I could send her first.  
I tried to speak but my vocal cords didn’t seem to work, my throat was unable to make noise. I flopped onto the ground inside the helicopter, relieved to be able to rest. But a scream from outside drew me back to reality. I crawled to the edge and saw the building beneath us had collapsed, and the girl who saved me was hanging for her life on the landing bar. I reached down, my body protesting. Grabbing her arm beneath where she held on. I pulled as hard as I could, her body slowly rising. It was hard enough earlier standing up, and while that felt trivial this felt like a feat of hercules. Her body raised up and with one hand, the other still gripping the landing gear, grabbed the inside of the door.  
“You are not falling after what you did for me, do you understand? Don’t you dare let go!” I shouted at her. Her eyes met mine and her hand spun in my hand, grabbing my wrist. I pulled, leaning back onto my knees, my gunshot wound flared up and I felt like I was being burned alive with matches inside of me. Blood on my hands was slick but I kept my hold on her hand despite the pain. My back protested, the muscles screaming to stop, but I refused, still pulling her, her waist was over the doorway, and the hard part was over. Her other hand let go and grabbed the inside of the door. She pulled herself over and acted like the ground was her first love, staying close to it. The dark haired kid slammed the door shut, darkness swallowed us for a moment until I adjusted to the minimal light inside the helicopter.  
“Thank you for your he…” her voice faded, and even in this kneeling position I could feel blood pool around my knees. I got dizzy and felt myself lean forward, my head slamming into the ground and then everything was blurry around me.  
My hearing came back once in a while but I just felt too tired to think about what they were doing.  
And then a pain worse then the gunshot happened in the same spot. Something was digging around inside me, and then it was gone, but I felt the blood flow faster than before. The pain even worse.  
Then my skin bubbled up, and all the pain I felt today was nothing compared to this. I could feel my soul flood back into my body and I could hear and see everything. I looked down, trying desperately to flail away from whatever this pain was. I saw a glowing red hot knife, being held to where the bullet wound was, and I knew what they were doing. My flailing didn’t work so I bit down as hard as I could, knowing this pain was necessary if I wanted to live. The bubbling and sizzling subsided, and I looked down again, feeling dizzy. The knife was taken away, and the wound looked closed. But blood still flowed down my back. But instead of cauterizing my back they flipped me over to my back and leaned me over forward. I hadn’t even realized my shirt was long gone. It’s blue shade stained by dark red blood in the front of the room we were in.  
I hadn’t looked around much but I figured now was better then before. I looked around, orange light still filtered through the window every once in a while, but it was less than before. The interior was all metal, even the ground underneath us was steel plates. There were chairs on each side, about 8 in total. The back had a slant up which I assumed to be the cargo bay, and then another door on the opposite side of where I had come in from. As my gaze wandered I looked at my hands, they were pale, paler than normal. Very likely from the blood loss.  
“I’m...sorry” I rasped, my blood staining the ground under my knees.  
“Don’t talk, you need to save your energy” The boy’s voice sounded from behind me. The girl who saved me nodded as she took a long roll of gauze and moved to my back, covering each line up my back, then taping it down.finally she wrapped a layer of tape around my entire torso, my cheeks getting as hot as they could with a lack of blood and how close she was to my chest. As she finished I reached up, my arm heavy.  
“Thank...you…” I rasped as I grabbed her hand as she put the tape away. Her cheeks got hot but she didn’t pull her hand away.  
“My pleasure, thanks for the save back at the building.” she smiled at me, then put what looked like a duffel bag down beneath me, she almost shoved me down.  
“You need to rest, I’ll wake you when we’re there.” she said. I wanted to question where but before I could ask my eyes had closed and I was in a deep sleep. 

〜

Flames took up my vision as they crawled up my skin. But there was nothing else. No ground, no buildings, nothing there at all. Just me and darkness that extended for miles and miles. But there was fire, crawling over my skin and making my blood boil.  
It crawled over my skin. Each and every inch of me was covered in flames. I couldn’t stop it. I was helpless. And there was nothing more terrifying than helplessness.  
I fell to my knees and screamed but out came no sound, helpless I sat there, letting the flames bubble beneath my skin and flow inside of my veins.  
but I wouldn’t let this fire break my spirit. It may break and consume my body from the inside out but it would not break my spirit.  
I tried to stand. But the fire consuming my legs were tearing through me. But I kept going, the pain overwhelming. I got my foot under me, pressing it into the dark and blank ground. Then the other. I stood up and stared right ahead. I felt something there. Something that stated back at me from the cover of nothingness.  
But then there was rain, and thunder, and lightning. Still eternal darkness but above me was a grey stormcloud, raining and dousing me with water more refreshing then anything I had felt on my skin before.  
The lightning surged above me, eventually finding its way to my frail body, lighting up my insides like a light bulb. But there was no pain, no sensation other than pure energy. Just like the rain it helped me, and the pain from the fire eased. Then there was something new. And I was in my room. On my bed, doing nothing but relaxing in the comfort of my own home.  
Alex, Alex please we need you.  
Screams from the door, but I couldn’t move, my body wouldn’t respond. They were my mother’s screams, begging for help.  
This is your fault  
Your fault  
Everything is your fault  
Our deaths  
Our blood  
Is in your hands.  
The screams were no longer angry but the words repeated over and over. And try as I might I couldn’t yell at her to tell her I tried to save her. To try to save her and Dad. I did whatever I could but deep down there was a feeling of not enough. And then there was the thunder, cracking in the sky above my room. I started towards the sky, begging the thunder to boom on.  
The thunder felt like music, drowning out my sorrows from deep within. Until I could no longer hear my own feelings of how it was my fault. But deep down I knew that I hated myself for their deaths. But the feeling became quiet. And the storm spiraled. Forming a supercell and knocking away the walls of my room and throwing me through an eternal darkness. Slowly sucking me away into the storm.  
I accept you Alex. I will become one with you, and we together will protect those who you care about. I will not let you down. And I hope you don’t let me down either.  
The voise was deep and felt like a part of my very being. Like it belonged with me, as a part of me I had been missing for years.  
As soon as I entered the cloud, each component felt like it flowed through my very essence. And then it was all gone. Sucked into a grey sphere, and I was left  
Falling  
Falling.  
Falling  
Falling  
Falling deeper into the abyss.  
Falling deeper into the darkness  
Falling back, to reality.  
Falling into the ground of this realm, and back into my own. 

〜

“Alex, Alex wake up, NOW ALEX” My metaphysical body fell into my own and I shot up, both my back and side protesting but not nearly as much as before.  
I started throwing my shirt on but she spoke again. The shirt still ripped slightly and crusted with dry blood but it would have to do for now.  
“The soldier came in, told us they dropped something called the core, and now we need to brace for impact.” I didn’t have nearly enough time to react before I smelled the scent of smoke from the blades on top, the whirring of the blades were loud and screeching. And outside the window was the world beyond. There was almost nothing there, just trees and land and then I saw houses as we got low enough.  
“Out of all the times I've come close to death, this is the way I die, bloody fantastic” A new kid with merely a t-shirt and jeans said. He looked skinny, too skinny, to the point where his cheekbones were visible and popping out. His bones at the surface of his skin. It somehow disgusted me, but at the same time made me feel bad for him. Then my eyes trailed along his arms, seeing scars upon scars upon scars. Lines that showed me the extent of his cuts.  
Some were recent and some looked old as he was. But no matter what, each one showed a part of who he was, and the darkness that lurked within.  
“We’re not going to die, we’ll live through this.” I reassured Ash who was holding her head in her hands. She looked up at me and I Smiled at her. I crawled over to the seat next to her and buckled down. The buckle carved itself into my chest but I stayed there. Up till the point where the helicopter crashed, flipped and slammed into the ground again and again. The helicopter flipped about four times, each time making me more and more nauseous. I wasn’t hurt but the helicopter blade that had pierced the window next to me told me that I was extremely lucky.  
The back of the helicopter was entirely on fire, including the boy who was back there. There was a tiny sense of what felt like relief then regret for feeling relieved that he was gone.  
I unbuckled the buckle, the place where it was groaned and I could feel a bruise forming where it crushed my chest to the wall. I pressed my feet into the metallic floor, my tennis shoes still hugging my feet tightly. The air smelled of smoke and fire so I got up as quick as I could, moving towards the open sliding door. But before I got there, there was a yelp from behind me.  
I looked back, and there was Ash, laying on the floor pinned down by the door on the opposite side. Her torso was pinned down while her legs were moving slightly. I would not let her die here. I walked over to her, as fast as my legs would allow and pressed my hands under the door.  
“When I lift this you need to move out” I yelled to her, not knowing whether she heard me or not. I lifted, as hard as I could. The door was heavy, too heavy. My arms protested as I lifted with every muscle in me. The door came up maybe an Inch but it was enough for her to squeeze and shimmy her way out.  
Her blonde hair appeared from under the door, and I dropped the door as soon as she was free. I crouched down and lifted her up, her eyes hollow and unseeing. She was in shock, there was no other way to describe it. I didn’t know how to help her apart from getting her out of the Heli. I lifted her up, my arms still shouting at me to stop and rest. But I couldn’t, I couldn’t let her go. She’s done so much for me already, and I had to repay that.  
I stepped out into the grass and walked away from the burning Heli. I was a good distance away before I set her down against a tree, her body was limp, but I could feel her heartbeat through my hand on her back so I knew she was alive.  
I made sure she was breathing before I got up and looked around. We were in a field, maybe half a mile from what looked like a city, the buildings weren’t high but there were tons of them. Houses that spanned for miles. In the other direction opposite the houses was a large lake, with a dock shooting out over top of the water. But the air still smelled of smoke with now a little bit of fresh water along with the scent of grass. There was a forest surrounding part of the lake, and it felt peaceful. It felt like there was nothing that could get us here. And then there was the thundering, deafening noise of a jet.  
I looked back, finding the source of the noise. A massive black plane, larger then a cargo jet but it also looked like a black arrow. Jets on the bottom of it kept it in the air while jets on the back of it moved it forward. And then the bottom of the plane opened, dropping a giant metal sphere. Then the plane took off, faster then what you’d expect from a massive plane.  
I remembered what Ash said when I woke up, about the core. This must have been it, and we were all probably dead. The core had a flaming bottom as it shot towards the ground, almost like it was ignoring terminal velocity. And then it crashed, a deafening boom sounded and a wave of air passed over me, forcing me to fly back a bit. I rolled backwards, now farther away from the tree than I expected to be.  
Then the ground under me cracked, followed by a what looked like a half sphere of black, spreading over the ground, wind like no other flew from the darkness, carrying the scent of danger. I collapsed to my knees as the ground broke, shattering into pieces and flying away from each other, and the darkness spread over Ash, and then me.  
The darkness passed over me. Leaving me in awe of the sight in front of me.


	2. Chapter One : New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the core was dropped, the world they love and know is gone for them, replaced by some new world that defies everything they hold to be true about the rules about reality. Nothing is the same as it used to be. But they must adapt to this new lifestyle that’s been forced on them.

The Darkness continued to spread as the impact from the core shattered the ground. What looked like electrical beams connecting the spreading land kept them from spreading too far apart. Some of the lands even started to change, grow, and new land started to form. I Could see in the distance a bolt of electricity shoot into a piece of new land that looked like a mountain. I grabbed onto a tree as I looked down past the breaking land and I could see down into an endless abyss under what looked like a few thousand feet thick of land. I could have sworn I saw creatures in the abyss, attempting to crawl their way out into what little was left of the light. As I looked back up I could see materials flying past my head, from large amounts of sand, snow and even magma. A stream of magma slammed into the ground near me flowing freely like it was squeezing its way inside. The ground continued to shake and rumble while everything was going on. It was like a whole new universe was being formed in front of me. 

As soon as I looked up I saw where the core had landed, a few miles away was a beam of light shooting upwards into the sky, but something was off about it. It looked like multiple colored beams were shooting up and then as I looked closer they split apart. Going every which way. I looked back towards Ash, but the place where she was resting was gone. Split off into a different section maybe a few feet away from the one I was on. 

“Ash! Ash! You need to wake up now!” she didn’t move at all, still lying down on the grass. While I continued to watch I could see the ground she was on start to tilt and more pieces broke off. The tree she was leaning on was being torn in half but not completely gone. 

“Shit, shit, shit what am I going to do,” I said to myself

“Jump, save her.” I heard my own mind whisper, but something was off about it. It didn’t sound like me at all but I was dumb enough to do as it said. I backed up to the base of my chunk of land and ran as hard as I could, launching myself into the air. The land behind me was pushed away so there wouldn’t be an easy way to get back. 

I could feel myself fly through the air as the ground behind me disappeared from sight. But the ground in front of me was at a strange angle that I wouldn't land directly on top of it. I’d have one chance to grab on otherwise I’d be lost in the void. And who knows what would happen. Whether I died or was falling for eternity, nothing about it seemed desirable. 

But the gravity was strange here, and I felt myself fly further than what should have been possible. As I got closer to the start of the cracked land, I reached out towards it. Gripping the edge and throwing myself over. I lay there for a moment, letting my heart slow down. If I took things too quickly I could further jeopardize everything. 

I could feel my heart beating in my chest, slower and slower every few seconds. I sat up slowly, visualizing how I would get Ash back across the abyss. I first removed my sweatshirt and tied her to the tree to prevent her from moving. But then everything started crashing together. The land we were on jerked towards where I jumped off of and connected. I flew forward, flying over the edge and starting to fall. I reached up and grabbed the edge during the last second I possibly could have and clung on for dear life. But as soon as I looked around I could see land, rocketing towards me. I knew I didn’t have enough time to pull myself over, but maybe with the gravity that was in this world. I didn’t have too much time to think. I put my feet up to the ledge and pushed off as hard as I could, launching myself up and away from the land I was on. The piece of land that was rocketing towards me flew just beneath my feet and I landed. Rolling backward and stopping. Then being launched forwards as the land crashed into where I used to be hanging. 

What used to be a dark sky started to warp and shake and then crack. The dark roof fell, replaced by a deep blue sky, with two suns. I stood there for a moment, glancing at my surroundings. There were homes, neighborhoods, with roads and walkways, it was a utopia. There were more people around who I hadn’t noticed before, and as I walked over to Ash she stirred and sat up. 

“Why the hell am I tied up,” she said, tugging at the sweatshirt and eventually pulling away from the tree. But then she looked at me and stared for a few seconds. Then looked away, her cheeks a bright red. The t-shirt I was wearing was pretty tight and my physique wasn’t unfit. She tossed me my sweatshirt and I slipped into it while also looking at my surroundings. 

To what I presumed to be south was a rocky landscape, filled with sharp jutting rocks shooting out of the ground. There were some homes on the edge of the mountains but nothing inside of them. To the north was a large raised mountain landscape as well, but it was covered with trees and snow, along with homes, made from stone and wood, like a cabin in the woods. They were spread out but close enough together to be able to see and I assumed that there were more. To the west was a massive thick forest, covered with a thick rolling fog that dissipated when it reached the edge of the forest. Finally the east was filled with a sandy landscape, a desert that stretches on for miles. And in the center of it all was a city, almost like a small town. Maybe a few hundred homes but based on the amount of people I saw before the blast, it would be enough. 

Before I could even react, The lights that were in the distance shot towards different directions, reaching a few feet away from me. It slammed into my ribs and I took a few steps back as my head started throbbing from the inside out. It felt like I was being pulled apart and expanded. But I wouldn’t pass out, whatever it was it was keeping me from doing so.

“Sorry about the pain, it’ll be over in a moment.”

The voice in my head wasn’t mine, but I didn't concern myself about it right then. I felt like I was being electrocuted, like lightning and a storm was literally forming inside of me and flooding me with pain. Then it faded almost as quickly as it was gone, and I felt Ash’s hands on my shoulders, clutching me closely. Then another struck her, I couldn’t see mine closely but I could see hers was a diamond white, almost clear but with a small amount of purple. It slammed into her and I could see the pain write itself on her face as she fell to her knees, then rolled over to her back and screamed. 

“You can’t help her, she needs to feel this”

I ignored the voice and leaned her on her side and she curled up into a ball. 

“It’ll be over in a moment. Just hang on Ash” Despite my sore muscles I continued to clutch her closely, and as she regained her senses i leaned her against the tree and sat next to her. 

“Are you alright?” I asked her, putting my hand on her shoulder and looking at her. 

“Just a bit sore but I’ll be alright.” she said, leaning against me. I started to see less and less of the light beams as they dove towards the ground to various places. To people I assumed. But as a few moments went on, I could feel my muscles becoming less sore and I felt more energetic, almost as if that “storm” that formed inside of me was powering up every part of me. The electricity that shot through me and shot pain everywhere started to shoot power, giving me more and more energy. 

“That would be me.”

I didn’t have time to react to the voice before but I suddenly remembered, shooting up off the side of the tree and checking my surroundings. Nothing moved except for a few people in the distance and the small flame that came off of the crashed helicopter piece that didn’t fall through into the abyss. 

It was only a small piece of the tail but maybe it was one of the soldiers that was still inside of it. 

“Hello? Is someone there?” Ash was staring at me, confused until her eyes opened wide and she shot up to her feet as well. Looking at her surroundings closely, inspecting every inch of shrubs and bushes that surrounded us. 

“It’s just me, no need to shout.”

“Where the hell are you,” the voice sounded like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Like it was being fed into my brain itself. 

“Oh, you think i’m tangible. No, I'm literally a part of your soul. I was the beam that hit you.”

I stopped looking around, and thought back. The voice had spoken to me twice before as well. 

“Who the hell are you?” I asked the empty air in front of me, hoping whatever it was would hear me. 

“ You may call me tempest. It was a nickname given to me years ago inside the core because of my affinity for weather. Each of those lights is now a part of someone, making them more powerful than they’d ever been before.”

“More powerful how, oh, and Ash, have a conversation with it” but as I said this I looked over and it already looked like she was.

“More powerful as in gains abilities. Your generation has seen them in shows and movies, and they’re known to you as superpowers, though I think that's an oversimplification. I need to conserve and build energy for now, I need to rest, this world is filled with houses, chose one.”

“Wait, don’t go, not yet.” but I knew it was futile, it felt like something inside of me had turned off to the world. So whatever this thing was I could feel it. I walked over to Ash, still feeling a part of me that was dark, turned off in a way. She talked for another minute and I waited for her to stop. 

“No, don’t leave yet, I have more questions still” but I could see the hopeless look on her face. I came up behind her and put my hand on her arm, stabilizing her. She looked tired like she hadn’t slept for days, which I guess was true, it had been a long long traumatic and filled with horrors the likes of which we couldn’t imagine. I went up beside her and put her arm around me, helping her walk towards the center of wherever we were. She dropped lower and lower until her eyes finally closed and all of her weight was on me. 

We were maybe half a mile away from the first house, so I decided to sweep her off of her feet and start to carry her, she was light thankfully and it only took me about 5 minutes to get to the first home. The home was on the end of a small street, along with maybe ten or eleven houses. The house was fairly large, two stories tall and a front porch. The porch was only concrete and maybe a few feet extended from the door with a black doormat as well. I walked up the steps and the doormat changed, it vibrated and shifted and collapsed inwards, weaving itself as if it was fluid. The color changed and the doormat rearranged itself in front of the door. There were two distinct colors. One was an image of a storm on the left which extended about halfway across the mat. Then a slash separated half from half and the other side was a crystal extending from the earth. I didn’t let myself think too much, this place was full of stuff I didn’t understand. 

I set Ash down carefully and reached for the brass doorknob. The wooden door creaked open as I opened it slowly, expecting something to explode or blast out at me. But there was nothing apart from the squeak of the door. The inside was well designed, with hardwood on the floor and walls that were a light grey. 

I turned around to pick up Ash but she was already attempting to stand up on her own. I rushed over and put my arm under her shoulder, supporting her. 

“Where are we,” she said, putting her hand to her head, “and why does my head feel like a freight train hit it” 

“You hit it in the helicopter crash. The adrenaline probably kept you going until you passed out a while back” I said, as I felt less and less weight as her legs regained her strength. I helped her up through the door and through the short hallway on the right which opened up into a kitchen with dark wood cabinets and stainless steel appliances. 

“How did this all end up here,” I wondered aloud. 

“Maybe it built itself. You remember earlier when all the things were flying around? Who’s to say it didn’t just appear.” Ash said. But it seemed unlikely. You can't create something from nothing, but this entire world became reality somehow. To the right of the kitchen was a living room with furniture and a fireplace in the back corner. I walked over Ash to it and set her down on the couch.

“I’m going to go see if there's any ice in the fridge, I'll be right back.” She didn’t say anything as I walked over to the fridge. Opening the lower door to the freezer and seeing the impossible. There was food, from ice cream to frozen fries to raw meat. Stunned, I opened the fridge and it was the same, food was everywhere. I closed the fridge and walked over to the white door, right of the fridge. I opened it and there was food items filled everywhere. I went around to each and every cabinet and they were filled. With cookbooks in a cabinet and an absurd amount of spices in the next. 

I opened the freezer again, remembering Ash needed Ice for her head. I grabbed a pack of frozen peas and hoped that would suffice for now. I walked back over to her and handed her the bag.

“What did you see in the cabinets, you look like you're in shock,”

“The cabinets, they're full of items you'd find in a house that has been lived in for years. The fridge is full, the freezer is full, the pantry is full, the cabinets are full. This world, its sentient, creating things. Because there’s no way that it could have known what kinds of food and spices we kept in the real world.” I thought about the core, and what it could have done, how could all of this happen, how could the basic laws of physics be undone by a simple core. 

*Bang Bang* the clank of hand on metal was audible through the house. “Yo, anyone up there?” Where it came from I didn’t know, but it sounded like someone our age. 

“Where are you?” I asked 

“Follow the banging noise,”Bang bang, It was a male’s voice coming from what looked like a closet next to the living room and close to the kitchen. I walked over, my shoes digging back into my feet as I got up. I opened the door and there was a metal hatch on the floor inside along with a big red handle on the outside. 

“Twist and then lift,” He was short and to the point as he spoke. The hatch clicked as I moved the red handle. I lifted and it tilted back towards the wall furthest from the door. Underneath was a kid, who couldn’t have been more than sixteen, standing at the base of a ladder that led down to a concrete hallway. His hair was a dark brown and he was wearing shorts and a red loose t-shirt. 

“First things first, i’m Ethan. There are others further down in the bunker but we don’t need to rush things. Anyone else here?” I nodded 

“Yea, there's someone else here, but she’s hurt.” I stated to him. He frowned. 

“Grab her, there’s a medical center down in the bunker as well.” He told me, it didn’t sound like an opinion. I walked back to Ash and he clambered up the ladder and walked inside. 

“Ash, this is Ethan. He said they had a medical center. How I don’t know, but I do know they’ll have better supplies then a bag of frozen peas.” All she did was sigh and leaned forward onto her feet, and sprung up.

“What the hell?” I asked

“Whatever those voices and this power is, it helps us heal faster. I didn’t even know I had the energy to get up.” She looked at her legs then felt her head, “No bump anymore”

I raised my eyebrows, skeptical but gracious to the power that healed her. I led her to the door and hopped down, not even bothering to use the ladder. It wasn’t a far drop. Ash clambered down behind me along with Ethan who shut the hatch behind us. 

“There’s a few others, twelve people in total.” Ethan said, slipping ahead and walking in front of us. The hall felt endless but was only a quarter mile, with other concrete tunnels connecting to the other houses in the neighborhood. There was a lobby at the end of the tunnel, and a giant vault door to the right. The lobby was small and had other tunnels connecting to it but it looked comfortable. The vault door clicked as Ethan tugged on the red handle in the wall next to the door. The door pushed open maybe a half an inch and didn’t move from there. 

I walked forward and grabbed it, pulling on it to open it. The door creaked open and I saw a large lab in front of me. Beakers and machine parts strewn everywhere, a room with furniture and a kitchen nearby. 

There were only a couple people inside, one with jet black hair and bangs hanging down to his eyebrows, he was a skinny one who was wearing a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. There was another, a girl with goggles, her hair was a light red and her skin was almost as white as snow messing around with what looked like soil in a beaker. Then there was Ethan behind us and a girl who came up behind Ethan and just stood next to him, she had dirty blonde hair wrapped up in a pony with a baggy sweatshirt and leggings. 

But in the corner of my eye there was movement and there was another girl, considerably smaller than the rest of us, maybe 5’2. She was tiny, both skinny and short, but still looked like she could take anyone in a fight. With her short hair and bravado in her stride she strolled past us without giving us a second glance. 

“Xander, we got two new ones in the final house.” The guy with jet black hair glanced towards us and then back to his work. 

“There's a paper outside of the bunker, near the door, it’s got everyone’s names on it so if you wouldn’t mind signing it that would be great.” There was little to no emotion in his voice but you could tell what he said wasn’t up for debate. 

I looked back towards Ethan, the girl he was with and the other girl but they had already left down one of the hallways. 

“Before we do, do you have any idea where we are or what happened before all of this?” I said, gesturing to everything around us. 

Xander finally stopped and glanced up from his work at us, putting down the tweezers and beaker he was holding. The girl looked up as well and took her goggles off and set them down. Xander walked over to us, slowly but surely like he knew he could waste as much time as he wanted now that no one told him what to do. 

As soon as he reached us he opened his mouth, his distinctive jawline along with his throat bobbed slightly. “From what we know, with the core falling out of the sky, the electricity, the reconstruction of the land, and the burning city, we think what happened was tha-” he was cut off by the girl

“We think we’re in a pocket dimension, one where it knows what we need and what we want and can adapt without worry for the laws of physics. It’s like this world itself is sentient.” she said running her nails through her hair. “We don’t know how or why but the lights that struck us all appeared to be living energy, extremely powerful. If you’ll follow me”

She walked over to an area with a large red cross on the top, and rolled a clear board over with a glowing picture stuck to it. 

“This is the image of a person, Xander to be exact, with a special lense to see radiation. As you can tell, the image is glowing, the energy resonating within us is steadily increasing.” Xander stood behind her, watching her say what she said but also looked deep in thought. 

He chimed in for a moment “This much radiation inside of a human’s body would kill them. It’s as much radiation as about half of a nuke going off inside of us, which is why you should feel almost brimming with energy. But eventually this energy needs somewhere to go, and how long until that is unknown.” 

“But who knows for sure, this entire place defies almost all the laws of physics so it could have also changed us biologically. Almost nothing is known, there has to be more research into this all. For now just be careful. We don’t know what those beams did to us.” 

Just as she said that I could see her Iris change color to a deep purple color, shifting and changing the size of the dilation of her eye as well. She lost her balance for a moment and covered her eyes. 

Xander walked over, but wasn’t in a place to see her eyes yet. “You alright?” He asked, almost bored. 

“Yea, it just got really bright for a moment.” She looked up, her pupils adjusting to her apparent visual disturbance. 

Her eyes were now almost pinpoint, barely visible from even a few feet away, and the purple was brighter in her eyes now. Xander stared into her eyes for a moment before he walked away to what looked like the medical section of the bunker. 

He grabbed a little device that a doctor would use to examine the eye, and held it up to her. The flashlight clicking on to see how her dilation would react. Then after a moment Xander bent over, covering his eyes and losing his balance. He stood back up, staring into my eyes. “You need to watch what happens and tell me everything you remember. His eyes were red, like blood vessels were being broken in the white of his eye. But something was different about his. Instead of adapting to a different color, his eyes formed a sheet of metal over them that looked like it was flooding into his eye. His eye became rough and metallic, a robotic eye if you will without the pupil. 

He groaned in pain, looking up still straight into my eyes. A ring of grey light formed in the middle of his eye, where his pupil would be. Finally the pain was too great and he grabbed the wall next to him and leaned on it. He pushed his hands into his eyes to try to ease the pain. But nothing could be done. He slumped to the floor, defeated and stuck experiencing his own eye being mechanized. 

After a few minutes he finally took his hands away, and then shot up. He looked every which way, glancing from item to item. 

“Are you alright Xander?” The girl said, looking at him cautiously.

“I’m great actually. This is...this is like having some sort of UI from some games. The names of objects pop up next to them, the names of people, things I couldn’t see before are now visible to me. Infrared, microwaves, x-rays, everything.” He looked around for a little bit longer before a sharp pain tore at my eyes. I saw Ash lean on something as well, and we were both struck near the same time so it would only make sense that it would happen at the same time.

The power that I felt surged in that moment, surging through my entire body and through each and every atom inside of me. It was energizing, but before I even noticed, some of it traveled down my arm and through my hand, shooting a pulse of electricity and wind into the ground. The ground was singed and the wind swept across the room, a strong warm wind. It dissipated and everyone was staring at me, mouths agape. 

“Do it again” Xander demanded. “Now” his metallic and unfeeling eyes glared into me with the force of a thousand suns. I didn’t even know how I did it the first time, but I knew that I could feel something. Like some new power that welled up inside of me. It made me feel energized, like I could run for miles and never have to stop. 

But Xander asked me to do it again, and I would do my best to fulfill what he said. I closed my eyes and reached down, deep into the energy. Forming what felt like some pipeline and forcing the power to do what I told it. I had no idea what this would do but somehow this felt right. It was difficult but felt somehow like a workout. My muscles contracted slightly as some of the power flowed through them. 

I forced the power to split and sent it down both of my arms through what felt like pathways specifically formed for the power itself. Like veins pumping pure energy through my body. 

The rest of my body became slightly numb as I pushed the power further down my forearm, feeling my muscle contract and the power careen down my arm. Then the wind in the room picked up. It wasn’t much but I didn’t feel it so much as I sensed it, like some sixth sense that told me exactly how the air around me behaved. 

I could feel it move around my friends, not being able to move through them so it went around them. But I could feel where they were in accordance with me. I could feel exactly how the wind moved past them. Exactly what parts of them the wind had trouble moving around and what parts it could move past easily. But I relished this feeling of knowing where the wind went. But I took it a step further as I pushed the power further, and into my hands. I could feel myself affecting the wind itself, moving how it moved past things and directing it exactly where I wanted to. 

I pushed the wind away from my friends and didn’t even notice that it had sped up, pushing its way through the delicate machines. There was a loud crack as a lightbulb was cracked inside the ceiling. Then others. The lab was still bright due to wall lights but it was slightly darker now. 

I wanted to give Xander exactly what he needed. So I pressed my power even further, bringing my hands together but never touching. Forcing the power from my fingertips to the space in between my hands. I could feel it form itself into a ball of pure energy, then form into what looked like a cloud, filled with water rolling around, electricity, snow, tornadoes, hurricanes, and every strange weather phenomenon all in a miniscule space in between my hands. 

I felt my body force me to choose which ones I wanted to use with the power drawn, so I chose the basics, wind, rain, and lightning. 

Then the room dissolved into chaos as I released my power from my hands. The orb of power dissolving into the air. The air spun around me faster than I had ever felt. The air around me, a crescendo of wind. I could hear the machines, even the ones that were bolted into the ground, shake and rattle. The smooth metal rattling and creaking against the pressure.

Then the first bolt shot out of the ground as the wind pushed the machines to their breaking point. Some machines shattered and flew around the room while others slid across the ground with a loud screech. My own power felt overwhelming, but there was still more that had been released that hadn’t manifested in the air. 

Then the roof was coated in a thin sheet of what felt to me like cloud but what I assumed to look like to others as a thick fog. I felt the rain about to fall before it did. It wasn’t pouring but it wasn’t just some drizzle of rain either. The rain itself was being whipped around by the wind, drenching my clothes but overwhelming me with a sense of calmness. 

I could feel the cloud itself burst with energy before the air a few feet behind me became plasma as a flash erupted. Then the shaking and deafening boom of lightning all around me, rattling my bones. 

I could feel where the energy would strike, each strike point out of my control but in my ability to stop if I so desired. I could feel the energy and stop it from releasing, but I could not pick and choose what I wanted it to strike. An uncontrollable energy only capable of striking its own choice but not powerful enough to be stopped before it happens. Then the clash of metal on walls ceased as the wind died down, the cloud dispersed, the rain stopped and the thundering explosive energy of the lightning ceased. Each and every muscle in me ached as I collapsed to my knees, and collapsed onto my face. Watching the world go dark, right before my eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

My head pounded as I started to open my eyes. My muscles twitching and screaming at me. Like I’d overexerted myself somehow.

Your muscles are sore because it’s your first time using your power. Eventually it’ll get easier, your muscles and energy transference will become second nature. And you also won’t pass out by exerting your power. You were only out for a few seconds though so you shouldn’t have to worry about that again unless you exert a massive amount of power. 

That voice again. Not outside my ear but as if it was an inner voice. I chose to not speak to it, only to listen to what it had to say. 

You did well, but you must be more careful. Look at your friends. 

In the overwhelming anarchy of what I had done, I had completely forgotten about them. . Metal pieces and machines were scattered around the room. Broken glass littered the floor and the ground inside the lab was charged from the lightning. 

My power was the sole focus of my attention. I shot up to my feet, My muscle soreness lessening by the minute until it was gone altogether. 

“No, no, no” I whispered to myself as I looked behind me. But what I saw stunned me.

A redish pink stone wall had sprouted from the ground itself, cracking open the floor of the lab and covering where they were like an overhanging cave. 

“Ash, are you there? Are you alright?” I pleaded to myself that they hadn’t been hurt, because if they had been it would have been my fault. But the stone itself got smaller, and Xander and the girl were pushed out of it as it got smaller and smaller, converging into some shape, a humanoid shape. Xander immediately tried to get back in but the substance didn’t even budge at his hand. He tried hitting it but he only hurt his hand. 

It continued to get smaller, and more compact. The light gleamed off the shiny stone brightly and was one of the most beautiful things i’d ever seen, but that didn’t matter as I realized it was forming over ash. Hugging her features, and shaping itself like a shiny suit of armor around her. 

It moved past the top of her head, skipping her head and forming a tall piece around the sides and back of her neck but leaving the front of her throat exposed. 

The shoulder pieces jutted outwards over their respective arms. A rounded edge formed at the end of the jutting pieces, and then stopped changing. 

Her chest piece looked sleek, not necessarily thin but as if it would protect her and allow her to move freely at the same time. The pieces that disconnected from the chestpiece and joined her shoulders didn’t look like they’d inhibit her movements, but when she moved her arm to glance at her forearm and the thick substance that had now formed into thick vambraces, there was a pinkish cloth substance under her armor. It didn’t fold but it melted into itself, becoming thicker as the cloth itself was exposed. Offering protection when not even the thick armor on the outside could protect her. 

I looked down her arm, the substance seemed done with the transformation, her armor gleaming with a sheen I had never seen before

Her entire hand was covered, leaving only the fingertips exposed. The piece over the back of her hand was thick and stretched and thinned out as it moved over her fingers. But it didn’t cover the front of her fingers. Instead it was the same cloth from before.

Her legs were covered as well, but there were more joints around her legs, each had the cloth form of the stone underneath. Looking down, the armor even formed what seemed like shoes over top of the tennis shoes she was wearing, not anymore tennis shoe like but now they were sharp and jagged, jutting out like boots that spread up her leg, joints around her ankle allowed her feet to move and she walked around a bit. 

She looked as if her movements were fluid, not inhibited at all by the armor, she even tried jogging a few steps. I glanced over at Xander and the girl as she continued to admire her new sheen. Xander’s eyes flew, taking in every inch in moments just to do it all over again. Though his eyes were kind of cheating at it, he didn’t take in the beauty of the armor, only the utility. 

The armor itself was jagged and sharp, not smooth like the stone before but its beauty held. Then after it was all done, she looked like she was ready to head to war. She took another moment to move her eyes up and down herself, but before anyone could even say anything, it all sank into her skin. Her skin tone is not even changing color. 

It sank through her clothes, becoming part of her. Everyone was silent, until Ash, her humorous self, spoke up. 

“What, is there something on my skin?” she asked innocently, and then laughed slightly. 

“Also, ever try to kill us again Alex and I’ll beat you to a pulp.” I laughed, my nervousness changing into a relentless energy to laugh. 

“Wait,” I said after I could speak again, “didn’t the welcome mats have a storm and a crystal, the same color of your armor, appear on the welcome mat?” 

Xander looked at me, the back of the girl. “He’s right, there was a machine on the doormat when we entered it, which correlates with your mechanical eyes.” 

“Don’t forget the purple oval as well, with another smaller one behind it, that one correlates with whatever your ability must be Myss,” So Myss was the girls name, probably a nickname but still, I kept it in the back of my mind as they spoke. 

“Oh, Alex, you can go back to the home if you want, or there's a small cafe, Ethan should be there as well as Charlotte who is usually with him.” So the girl from earlier who stood behind him was charlotte. “You must not have eaten in a while and it’ll give you a chance to meet the others that are there.” Xander stated. But I knew what he really meant was get out of the lab while he eyed the broken machines. He looked at them longingly, as if they were someone close to him that had died. 

But I knew that the longer Ash and I stuck around the more of a nuisance we would be. I turned around to face her but she was a step ahead of me, standing at the doorway out of the bunker and into the hallway hub. She smiled at me and I walked over to her, realizing that this moment, after everything wasn’t so bad. 

There was a sign with a coffee symbol on it so I assumed that was the cafe. 

“It’s this way,” I said pointing down the hallway, and started walking down the blank hallway. The lights in the ceiling shining brightly and the echo from voices overtook us. 

“How are you holding up?” I heard Ash say, I looked over at her and she was holding my gaze, awaiting an answer. 

“I could ask you the same question, both of us have been through hell. Almost literally,” I said, picturing the towering flames engulfing Chicago, the bone chilling screams sounding through the streets. I cringed at the thought. But the most painful of all was the loss of my parents. But now wasn’t the time for grief. It could wait till later. 

“Yes well you’ve been through a different type of hell. I was in the area of Chicago that hadn’t been hit by the fires. South of you. But since Xander was a priority to save we had to travel north back into the fires. I didn’t actually experience them firsthand. Plus you got shot too so that kinda sucks” I laughed slightly, remembering the pain of the wound.

I put my hand where it was but I didn’t feel any pain. My eyes must have gone wide.

“What is it,” Ashley said. I lifted my shirt, my gunshot wound now fully healed. Of course there was a burn scar but the wound itself had closed entirely. It looked as if I had that scar for years and it had healed fully. 

She looked at it as well, so I stopped to let her get a better look. She touched it with her fingertips, running her hand along the scar. 

“It’s fully healed. How is this possible?” she asked herself. “Burns like these would take weeks to heal, and even then the scar tissue wouldn’t be this faded.” She took a few moments before she stood up, her hand on her chin pondering the possibility. I watched her as she thought. But she didn’t notice for a few moments. 

“What?” she said, a smile appearing on her face, “is there something on my face?” she blurted, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

“No, nothing like that. Just waiting for you to think.” I said, she smiled and kept walking.

“The power,” the short silence broke, “ it must be those beings inside of us. The quote en quote sentient energy as Xander would put it.” It made sense. That's the only possibility that I could really comprehend. Nothing else had changed apart from the fact the core dropped on top of us. 

But what about Chicago, could someone with these kinds of powers have caused what happened in chicago? I ran through it in my head, but it didn’t fully make sense to me. If the light gave us these abilities then it wouldn’t be possible for the light to have already struck them and be given time to incubate for long enough for them to manifest their powers. It took us hours for our eyes to change, but maybe it was faster for others. 

“I’ll still never get used to that voice in my head. What if I'm never alone in my thoughts again? Can they see what we see? If they can, what if we’re doing something privately like showering, or going to the bathroom, or something more.. Private” She blushed, not willing to not finish the sentence. Even if she hadn’t finished the sentence I would have poked and prodded until I had gotten the information out of her. 

Don’t be idiotic, we know when we’re needed and when we’re not. We’re not going to poke into your thoughts just to be dicks. You’d have to talk to us. 

Well that answers that question I guess. We both laughed out loud. 

“Yo, what's so funny?” I heard from a door on our right. The coffee symbol was there, so I assumed we’d made it to the cafe. We walked in the room. The floor was hardwood, not too large but still big enough to hold a considerable amount of people. There were a fair amount of people currently. Everyone was sitting at a round table in the center of the room. 

I took a moment to count them, there were seven people seated at the table, the majority of them speaking to the person next to them. 

“Just an answer to a stupid question” Ash answered as she grinned. 

The wall to the right was filled with cabinets and two fridges. And someone had apparently baked cookies because Ash and I could literally smell the scent of melted chocolate and baked cookies. 

The scent overtook me and I walked over to the cabinets. The cookies were sitting on top of the bottom row of cabinets, which had a granite top to them, and they looked delicious. 

“You’re welcome by the way,” A girl said from the back. Her hair was a fiery red, and she was tall, maybe 5, 9 in stature. Her skin was a crisp brown and she wore a tank top with a pair of athletic shorts. 

“They smell amazing, just saying. Also I'm Ashley, Ash for short. Nice to meet you” Ash said excitedly, already munching on one of the cookies. Some chocolate spilled out, a molton brown liquid from inside. I could feel my mouth water at the sight. 

I snagged one from behind Ash and felt the cookie mold to my touch, the smell even stronger now. I bit into it, my mouth exploding with flavors I didn’t even know were possible. And apparently it showed on my face. 

“I had access to ingredients that I couldn’t even touch back where we were. This place is stocked to the brim with everything we could ever need. And after something has been used, it rematerializes where it used to be. So I can make limitless amounts of these, whenever I want. Also my name’s Lena, nice to meet you both.” She spoke loudly and boldly, not caring that there were others in the room. “Where are you both from?” She could tell my face went dark at the thought of home. 

Fire filled my mind but I would answer this question. If I couldn’t then who was I to do anything else. I had no right to retreat into my own mind right now, not here. 

“Chicago, both of us,” I answered for Ash, who had a defeated look on her face. 

“The City of Fire, I didn’t know. I’m sorry.” everyone became quiet. “I was from the south side. We weren’t in the thick of it. We saw the flames but weren’t anywhere close enough to actually go through it.” Everyone else in the room was sitting at one table. So I grabbed Ash’s arm to comfort her and we walked over to them, taking a seat with them, not yet finishing the cookies. 

“ We were on the North side, right in the thick of things. It was bad to say the least. Buildings collapsing, people burning in the streets, the sky was on fire.” I said. Eathan took a swift breath in as if he was going to talk, but then shut his mouth. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. 

“What happened to your parents?” he asked. Ours were separated from us and taken away to some military base while we were about to be taken elsewhere. I don’t even know what happened to the people who were taking us here. One moment we were in a school bus and the next the driver was gone and the bus was on its side with its roof ripped off.” He pondered thoughtfully over what happened. Going through each event in his head. 

“We thought he just ran but when we looked around he was nowhere to be seen.” A boy spoke up next to Lena, his hair a white blond color, and his pupils had changed as well as Lena. He was taller, and skinnier than everyone else in the room, choosing to wear a thick sweatshirt and sweats. 

I hadn’t even thought to check their pupils. Lena’s was a fiery red and orange, while this boy’s was a snow white along with an icy blue near the center. I took a glance around and the only other person’s eyes to change was Ethan and the girl next to him, who kept close. 

Ethan’s eyes were a deep violet color, with a lighter indio ring near the center of his eye. The girl next to him, her short, light brown hair a bit messy from the wind earlier, had eyes a color of light blue, with a deep pink as the outer ring of her Iris. 

Ash grabbed my hand, she didn’t know what happened to my parent’s but from her reaction she knew it was painful, her fingers intertwined with mine and it gave me comfort in speaking to them all about it. Ash gave a small squeeze to my hand as if she heard my thoughts. 

“My parents are gone. They were shot by one of the people who were bombing the city,” I clutched Ash’s hand tighter, gracious for the comfort it gave me. I didn’t let tears fall. I had to show them that it was possible to move on, so I held it in. I remembered all the good times with them, and none of the bad. 

I really thought about it harder. Trying to remember their voices. It took me a moment to give up on it. But I refused to show them. I had to become someone who could show them we had a future, that we could thrive here and move on from the reality we knew. 

“I-I…” Ethan stuttered, regretting each word that came out of his mouth. He didn’t know his question would hit a bullseye of my soul. 

“It’s not your fault. You didn’t know. What matters now is surviving. We have abilities that we’d consider superpowers in the real world but it takes a while to unlock them. What we’re supposed to do with them I have no clue” I changed the subject to something more lighthearted. 

“We have what?” Lena looked at me like I was crazy. 

“You're kidding me right? This is a joke?” I nodded at them. Calling up my power to my hand, a miniscule amount compared to what I did in the lab but it was still enough.

I sent a burst of wind out into the air, sensing everything around me again through the wind. The wind swirled around the wind. 

I assumed they weren’t convinced so I sent some of my wind out into a whirlwind of sorts. It flew over to the counter and then back, dropping another cookie into my hand. I stopped the flow of my abilities and could no longer sense everything through the wind, but there was still a short gust before the wind stopped. 

Everyone stared at me, silently. Nobody dared to speak. Except for the fiery girl Lena who stood up, shot her chair back, and opened her mouth. 

“How the hell did you do that?” It wasn’t fear in her cracking voice, It was excitement. She was practically bouncing around the room. Her eyes filled with curiosity. 

“First off, your eyes have to have changed first. That's when you’ll truly be able to feel your power. Currently that’d be just Lena, the almost white haired person next to you-” the white haired kid spoke up, still chill in his seat. “Name’s Wally” He still leaned back in his chair, his legs stretched under the table. 

“Alright, then currently it’s just Wally, Lena, Ethan and the girl next to you.” The girl next to him just shrugged. 

“I’m Charlotte.” her voice was soft, close to a whisper. So this was the girl Xander told me hung out with Ethan. 

“I’m Alex. Nice to meet you” I said to her. A smile emerged on her face, so I continued. “Your power is there. Like a dormant energy just sitting there deep down. It’s not solid so you won’t feel it but sense it. I think I worded that right. Well, to use this power, you have to reach down and grab some. It may sound weird but imagine grasping the power and directing it. Or force some of it to flow through you.” I stated. Trying to word the abstract idea of metaphysical energy manipulation as best I could.

“So this energy we feel, it’s the power we need to manipulate?” Lena said curiously. I nodded. Thankful that I had gotten my point across to at least one person. Because if it truly came to it she could be the difference between life and death if she figured out how to use her power. 

Wally looked as if he understood it too but didn’t vocalize. He was a bit more timid but there was nothing wrong with that. He closed his eyes and started to pick up his hands. 

But before anyone could react, and before I could see what Wally was doing, someone new burst through the doors in a rush. The doors bashing into the doorstops as he ran in. The hinges of the doors protesting loudly. He was breathing hard, each breath a struggle for  
him. 

“Someone” he said, his voice a raspy mess, “Someone’s been killed” 

Everyone was stunned. The doors snapping back to their original position in the doorframe, squeaking as they went along. The only other sound was the raspy breathing of the new kid who had come in. He bent over, putting his arm on a table and taking a few deep breaths in. 

He was a large kid, not as overweight but in the sheer bulk of him. Each muscle in him had been worked out and carefully honed to draw out as much strength as possible while staying as fast as possible. By looking at just his legs under his shorts, and his built calves you could tell that he was an avid runner, which meant he sprinted all the way here for however long a distance. 

His eyes were a deep green, with an inner ring of lime green. his eyes had changed, the green looked like a normal green but his pupil was almost gone. With a dilated pupil maybe his eyes would look normal. He continued to breath deeply, his chest rising and falling more slowly than before. 

“It was south of us,” he said, his voice less raspy then before but still breathing deeply. “Xander and Myss went to check it out to see what they could find.” He said, making eye contact with almost everyone who looked at him. Some stared at the floor in shock. 

“How do we know this wasn’t before wherever we stopped changing. He could have been killed by the pocket dimension itself while the core was being dropped.” I stated, remembering flowing magma and all the times that I could have very well died. 

“He died inside one of the houses. And I heard his screams. So I went inside and he was gone.” he looked down, and I could practically feel his guilt over not being able to save him. 

“I ran in as soon as I heard him scream but it was too late.” And since I live in this bunker complex, I figured Xander was my best bet and would know what to do.” He said, his voice just as much guilt ridden as it was raspy. 

“We have to stop whoever it was from killing again.” I said, my voice no longer empathetic, but now filled with a protective fueled rage. No one deserved to have their life taken. 

“But how?” Charlotte spoke up. “We’re not killing them because that's wrong, we can’t put them in prison because there is no prison, and we can’t just tell them to stop because they’ll probably kill us. What are we even supposed to do?” This stunned me as the reality of the world we were now in hit me. 

We were on our own. Once we caught them or did whatever we needed to do. What happens afterwards? Each answer to the questions had consequences and morals that needed to be crossed. 

“You’re right, but I do know we need to at least do something. We can’t just let this monster run rampant.” Lena, Wally, and Ash nodded. The others fell silent. There had to be something we could do. Otherwise how do we protect people, how do we make sure that monsters like these can’t run rampant and take any life they want. 

“Is there anything else you can tell us about where you were. Did you see anything that could be helpful?” I asked the buff kid, still not knowing his name. But his name was the least of my concern at this point. 

“The body.” He said, he quivered, almost as if he could feel the pain the person went through before they died. “It looked like every bone I could see was broken. I don’t know how but there was almost no blood, just a body bent and shattered.” He said, his fists now clenched into fists. 

“Which meant that whoever did this had some sort of ability with bones. But what could it be. Could they snap your bones at the sight of you? Did they even need to see you? Could they control the material our bones are made of? Or does it have to be more precise then that,” I questioned out loud to myself. 

“If he has abilities like those, how do we take whoever it is down.” Ethan said, pondering as well as he could.

“We have to tap into our own abilities.” I looked over at Lena and she was staring down at her closed fist. I could tell she was tapping into her own power. I could see her face tense up with concentration and effort. 

Then her eyes were closed, and her forearm contracted, I knew whatever she was doing it was being done right. And we were in for a show. 

Her fiery red eyes opened and burned brighter. she opened her hand. A massive burst of flame shooting out of her now open hand into the ceiling. 

The roaring heat from the flames rolled over us. The flames were a deep orange and yellow. But the heat was enough to force me to back away from slightly from the table. Getting out of my chair swiftly. 

Almost everyone got out of their chair apart from Ethan and Charlotte who were sitting directly across the table from Lena. Ethan and Charlotte meerly admired the view and enjoyed the show. 

“Holy shit” Lena said exactly what I thought. The flames stopped and she grabbed her forearm. I looked up at the now blackened ceiling with a smile. For some reason it gave me joy to see her grow. It was heartwarming to see her power manifest. 

“It’s a bit sore” she said, but a half smile formed on her face. “Whoever it is will not take me without a fight.” They never did have time to dive into their abilities when I told them about it, but I didn’t expect Lena to get it so quickly. She looked visibly energized. 

as I looked around, my eyes were drawn to Wally, something was wrong, he looked… more blue? But he wasn’t more blue. There was something in front of him, something so clear it only changed the color. Which is when I realized the rolling heat from Lena was gone, and was now replaced with an icy cold. The substance in front of Wally was ice. Clear Ice. thick but clear, and enough of it to fill up a room with a chill. 

“Well, I guess our powers aren’t difficult to reach down and use.” Wally shrugged as Lena kept using her abilities on the wall behind her. The room dissolved into chaos. But a rattle from the hallway behind me brought my attention back, as well as the new kids. 

“You hear that too?” I asked the new kid. He nodded slowly and didn’t take his eyes off of the doorway. Wally saw us looking at the door and got Lena’s attention. It took but a moment for everyone to stare at the door, to try to run through what the rattling could be, as it got louder. And louder. And louder.

“Bonessss” Everyone looked around. But the voice came from the hallway as the rattling stopped. 

Alex, take the roof off of this place now. As big a tornado you can form, right on top of us. NOW ALEX. You cannot be trapped in here with no maneuverability. This room is a death sentence. 

Tempest was scared which meant that I was too. The voice that had spoken rattled as it spoke. Like bones grinding up against each other. Nobody spoke, it was silent. 

The door opened slowly, a skeletal hand poking through the gap in the doors. Charlotte took a step back while the buff kid took a step towards the door, lowering himself. Readying himself to fight. 

The door opened further, and there was an entire arm, made completely of bone. The bones themselves a color not white but not yellow. The bones didn’t have any skin on them. Only finger bones held together by who knows what. The fingers wrapped around the side of the door and pushed it open further. Revealing a monster. 

It’s body was almost completely bone. Not a skeleton but as if the limbs themselves had transformed to bones apart from their left arm which had actual skin and actual fingers and looked normal. The skin stretched over to the torso, but stopped before it reached the right side of their body, tearing apart and looking burnt to a crisp as it got closer. 

It’s head was half bone, half skin, with the eye it had a pure white. No pupil to be seen. 

“You, its...you.” it’s head cocked. And thats when it clicked. The scars on the skin, the scars were everywhere. The skin moved down to the bottom of the ribs and stopped, ending in a charred line of skin. 

The head’s skin was covered in char in places. But those scars, they pissed me off before, and I felt bad for feeling relief at his death. This was the person burning alive on the plane. 

Its jaw opened, just opened. He didn’t say anything but he didn’t need to. His presence itself forced the room into a terrified silence. 

“You left me behind, I saw you leave… You could have saved me too” It glared at me. His white eye forcing its way into my soul. Paralyzing me in place. 

I moved my hand slightly and pinched myself. Forcing myself to not be overtaken by fear. But his eye kept glaring at me. I forced my power from my body. As much as I could force flow at a time. My muscles protested but we could all die here. 

I forced my power into the air above where we were. I could now feel the air above the ground. It was humid, warm, but cloudy at the same time. I pushed my power into the clouds above. Forcing it to do my bidding. The wind picked up, a deafening roar above where we were. 

“You… You could have saved me. But Instead.. I was forced to burn to the bone.. And now yours will break, and shatter. And I will take pleasure in breaking you.” the skin over the left half of his mouth formed into a devilish smile. One only a cold blooded killer could produce.

His right, bony hand, lifted up, and pointed towards me, rattling as he raised it. He pointed all of his fingers towards me, and his fingers extended. They didn’t shoot off. But they grew longer, sharper and got much closer very quickly. Headed straight for my skull.


End file.
